Observational Learning Essay

It is when something has been previously seen or heard. Face perception during early infancy (Article 7) by Mondloch, Lewis, Budreau, Maurer, Dannemiller, Stephens, and Gathercoal does a great job explaining young infants face perception and recognition. In this article, the researchers decided to conduct an experiment on newborns, 6-week-olds, and 12-week-olds. They used a standardized method, which was called the Teller Acuity card procedure. This procedure was when an observer did not know what was presented each trial and tried to see if the infants preferred one of the stimuli, or cards, over another.

We need to examine exactly what these companies are telling children and the effects these violent stories are having on the children who watch them. One of the first negative effects researchers discovered while observing children who were frequently exposed to violence on television was a lack of empathy towards other people’s pain and suffering. It was discovered that children who watched excessive amounts of violent programming were less likely to help victims of real-life violence ( Kinnear 6 ). Why does viewing violence on television have this effect on children? Children viewing acts of violence on television are essentially being trained to be spectators to violence.

Sometimes, mothers speak to their womb and through that, babies are able to distinguish and recognize voices and sounds. While babies do not say words until around the age of one years old, Hsu, Fogel, and Cooper (2000) states that “newborns respond to adult noises and expressions (as well as to their own internal pleasures and pain) in many ways, crying, cooing, and making a variety of other sounds even in the first days of life” (p. 168). Berger states “language develops through reinforcement, neurological maturation, and social motivation” (p. 203). Many theories sought to explain how infants learn language and where. B.F. Skinner found “that spontaneous balling is usually reinforced” (p. 171) and “every time the baby says ‘ma-ma-ma-ma,’ a grinning mother appears, repeating the sound as well as showering the baby with attention, praise, and perhaps food” (p. 172).

They become accustomed to this behavior, and they repeat this behavior when they become adults Children do watch a lot of television and too much can be a problem. I found that by being aware of the programs your children watch, talking to your children about the violence they see, and not using television as a babysitter can reduce the amount of influence television may inflict. Parents also need to spend time with their children and use other means of entertainment to amuse children. Parents can read, do puzzles, or find a sport that interests their child. Through my research I found television does pose as a major influence among children and does cause them demonstrate violent behavior.

Children are more likely to act out at the school with other children in violent act because of what they learned from media. Children believe that it is the right approach to get what they desire by being aggressive. Thus, Americans are constantly exposed to violence when they turn on television and movies that are filled with shooting or other violence. Dues to majority of exposure, we change our perspectives on violence itself. We need to understand that the exposure at such young age alter our values and norms.

I have observed children fight, hit, bite, spit and use many mean words to other children. The same behavior is commonplace on children's programming. This can... ... middle of paper ... ...side affects of the violent behavior. Parents must be wary of the programming that children are viewing. In combining our efforts government, teachers, and parents can teach children to act and react appropriately and responsibly.

At fourteen months, children can apply an imitation to an external situation up to a week after the initial imitation. (Windell, 67-68, 221). A famous example of this is Albert Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment. Christopher Green of York University helps interpret Bandura’s experiment and results: While acknowledging that certain children may have inherited aggressive personalities, Bandura demonstrated that the majority of personality is learned. Adult models were escorted to a room and shown various toys to play with while child observers watched from outside the room.

Scientists conducted an experiment in which babies listened to a series of computer synthesized gibberish words made up of syllables, some of which arose together more often than other syllables. The infants were able to focus on syllables that correspond with the nonsense language and they identified probable words. This breakthrough study demonstrated infants’ statistical learning capabilities presented a theory of language beyond the general idea that a child learns only because of parental habituation and the assertion of whether a word is correct or incorrect. Babies are learning far before parents recognize that it is even occurring. Additional studies shaped a crucial discovery that provided an imperative sign that the statistical learning process does not solely entail submissive listening.

al, 2013). However, these studies relied heavily on the infant’s reactions, which bared little credibility (Skwarecki, 2013). One research team developed a technique to show that infants actually develop memory of the sounds they hear while in the womb, and are able to recognize the similar sounds at the time of birth. The team was able to trace changes in brain activity in new born infants, and thus provided quantitative evidence that memory forms before birth (Partanen et. al, 2013).

“We have found that when a child receives a cochlear implant, the child begins to develop language skills at about the same rate as a child with normal hearing, said researcher Dr. Mario A. Svirsky” (Hear). The cochlear implant i... ... middle of paper ... ...reference/tech/techgloss.html Phonak Hearing Systems. Improving the quality of life for people with hearing impairment. http://www.phonak.com/index.cfm?do ERIC Documents. Using Assistive Technology in the Inclusive Classroom.